Democrats Vie for Plum Committee Slot

DeFazio is the Natural Resources panel’s second-most-senior Democrat, and perhaps his biggest selling point — next to his legislative record — is his seniority

Before voting for the 2005 GOP-backed bill, DeFazio noted in a floor speech that he was not enamored of the entire measure. “Immigrant rights organizations, labor unions and others have rightfully pointed out that the bill does not in any way address the 10-12 million undocumented workers already in the U.S., no matter how long they’ve been here or how much they’ve contributed to their local community or the economy,” he said at the time. He added he was voting for it because it was the only bill that allowed him to support enhanced border security.

Another organization is backing Grijalva because of local ties. The Center for Biological Diversity has its headquarters in Grijalva’s hometown of Tucson, Ariz. The group has gotten to know him through local environmental issues over the years and has worked with him on wilderness and endangered species issues, said Bill Snape, the group’s senior counsel.

But while Grijalva and DeFazio are challenging each other’s records, Snape’s organization is keeping its support for Grijalva completely focused on what he could bring to the position, rather than denouncing DeFazio. “We acknowledge there are other good candidates,” Snape said.

The Center for Biological Diversity was, incidentally, also one of hundreds of environmental organizations that urged President Barack Obama to nominate Grijalva to lead the Interior Department in his second term.

Grijalva might also get support from Native American groups as well as organizations promoting stricter gun control. In a letter to colleagues Thursday, Grijalva slammed DeFazio for, among other things, “allowing guns into national parks, which I opposed and which he voted to allow as an amendment to an unrelated credit card reform bill.”

That issue, which came up in May 2009, was fought by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, among others.

Grijalva said Thursday that while he would be “heartened” by outside organizations speaking up on his behalf, he couldn’t say what influence they could have among his colleagues. But he said he hoped he would be seen as “a bridge” for different constituencies in the party.

“Quite honestly, there is about 191 members of Congress who make this call and what outside opinion does to them or not, it’s in the eye of the beholder,” he said.

Grijalva added that he, too, had supporters within membership ranks, but is keeping those names to himself. One Democrat who has spoken in his favor is Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Rubén Hinojosa of Texas.

DeFazio said in a statement that while he has “spoken with many major, national conservation and environmental groups ... [I] am not aware of any interest in getting involved. ... Mr. Grijalva and I have very similar environmental records and the groups with interest in the committee have no reason to pick between two of their friends since they ultimately don’t get to vote,” he said.